IT for utilities and energy
Utility firms and energy companies rely on IT to support their often highly complex operations. The industry is being forced by politial and customer pressure to be greener and technology is central to achieving greater energy efficiency, through major initiatives such as smart meters. Our stories about energy and utility firms examine how IT is helping to enable change and improvement in these companies.
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Opinion
27 Nov 2024
In the cloud, effective IAM should align to zero-trust principles
The Security Think Tank considers best practices in identity and access management and how can they be deployed to enable IT departments to combat cyber-attacks, phishing attacks and ransomware Continue Reading
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News
26 Nov 2024
Sellafield operator opens dedicated cyber centre
The UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has opened a cyber security centre spanning its activities across the nuclear sector Continue Reading
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News
26 Nov 2024
Russian threat actors poised to cripple power grid, UK warns
UK government escalates cyber rhetoric in a speech at a Nato event, saying Russian advanced persistent threats stand ready to conduct cyber attacks that could ‘turn off the lights for millions’ Continue Reading
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News
25 Nov 2024
Microsoft calls on Trump to ‘push harder’ on cyber threats
Microsoft’s Brad Smith urges president-elect Donald Trump to keep the faith when it comes to fighting back against hostile cyber actors from China, Iran and Russia Continue Reading
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News
25 Nov 2024
Geopolitical strife drives increased ransomware activity
The lines between financially motivated cyber criminals and nation state APTs are rapidly blurring, as geopolitical influences weigh heavily on the threat landscape, according to data from NCC Continue Reading
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News
21 Nov 2024
BianLian cyber gang drops encryption-based ransomware
The Australian and American cyber authorities have published updated intelligence on the BianLian ransomware gang, which has undergone a rapid evolution in tactics Continue Reading
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News
21 Nov 2024
Microsoft slaps down Egyptian-run rent-a-phish operation
Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit has conducted a successful takedown of almost 250 malicious websites used in the cyber criminal ONNX phishing-as-a-service operation Continue Reading
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News
21 Nov 2024
Fujitsu snubbed on private sector deal with Centrica due to Post Office scandal backlash
Centrica board said to be concerned about contracting Fujitsu due to its involvement in the Post Office scandal Continue Reading
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News
20 Nov 2024
Apple addresses two iPhone, Mac zero-days
Two zero-day vulnerabilities uncovered in Apple’s operating systems could have allowed for arbitrary code execution and cross-site scripting attacks Continue Reading
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Opinion
19 Nov 2024
Underfunded, under pressure: We must act to support cyber teams
With almost half of cyber pros experiencing more incidents this year, security leaders say their teams are coming under increasing strain. Businesses must be more proactive approach about building a resilient, future-ready workforce Continue Reading
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Opinion
19 Nov 2024
Overcoming the cyber paradox: Shrinking budgets – growing threats
The challenging macro environment has left security budgets stretched thin even while new tech like AI presents a threat multiplier. In the face of these challenges, it becomes vital for security leads to do more to maintain funding Continue Reading
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News
18 Nov 2024
AWS widening scope of MFA programme after early success
AWS reports strong take-up of multi-factor authentication among customers since making it compulsory for root users earlier this year, and plans to expand the scope of its IAM programme in spring 2025 Continue Reading
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News
15 Nov 2024
Microsoft UAE power deal at centre of US plan for AI supremacy
Microsoft pens artificial intelligence energy deal with United Arab Emirates oil giant ADNOC Continue Reading
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News
13 Nov 2024
China’s Volt Typhoon rebuilds botnet in wake of takedown
Nine months after its malicious botnet comprising legacy routers was disrupted by the Americans, Chinese APT Volt Typhoon is rebuilding and presents as persistent a threat as ever Continue Reading
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News
12 Nov 2024
Microsoft fixes 89 CVEs on penultimate Patch Tuesday of 2024
High-profile vulns in NTLM, Windows Task Scheduler, Active Directory Certificate Services and Microsoft Exchange Server should be prioritised from November’s Patch Tuesday update Continue Reading
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News
12 Nov 2024
Zero-day exploits increasingly sought out by attackers
Threat actors increasingly favour zero-day exploits to attack their victims before patches become available, according to the NCSC and CISA, which have just published a list of the most widely used vulnerabilities of 2023 Continue Reading
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Opinion
12 Nov 2024
Strengthening cyber: Best IAM practices to combat threats
The Security Think Tank considers best practices in identity and access management and how can they be deployed to enable IT departments to combat cyber-attacks, phishing attacks and ransomware Continue Reading
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Feature
08 Nov 2024
Beyond VPNs: The future of secure remote connectivity
As more companies adopt cloud services and remote work, the limitations of VPNs are becoming obvious. We explore what’s next for secure remote connectivity Continue Reading
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Feature
08 Nov 2024
What are the security risks of bring your own AI?
The rise of generative AI has led to a plethora of publicly accessible artificial intelligence tools, but what are the risks when external AI tools are used with corporate data? Continue Reading
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News
07 Nov 2024
Google Cloud MFA enforcement meets with approval
Latest Google Cloud policy to enforce multifactor authentication across its user base is welcomed by security professionals Continue Reading
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News
07 Nov 2024
AI a force multiplier for the bad guys, say cyber pros
CIISec’s annual report on the security profession finds evidence of growing concern that artificial intelligence will ultimately prove more useful to threat actors than defenders Continue Reading
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News
01 Nov 2024
CISA looks to global collaboration as fraught US election begins
The US' CISA cyber agency has unveiled a two-year International Strategic Plan to advance collaboration and improve resilience against shared risks and threats Continue Reading
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Opinion
30 Oct 2024
IAM best practices for cloud environments to combat cyber attacks
The Security Think Tank considers best practices in identity and access management and how can they be deployed to enable IT departments to combat cyber-attacks, phishing attacks and ransomware Continue Reading
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News
29 Oct 2024
EMEA businesses siphoning budgets to hit NIS2 goals
With NIS2 now in effect, European business leaders are having to divert budget from elsewhere to achieve compliance Continue Reading
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News
22 Oct 2024
Danish government reboots cyber security council amid AI expansion
Denmark’s government relaunches digital security initiative to protect business sectors and society at large Continue Reading
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Opinion
11 Oct 2024
Robust cloud IAM should align to zero-trust principles
The Security Think Tank considers best practices in identity and access management and how can they be deployed to enable IT departments to combat cyber-attacks, phishing attacks and ransomware. Continue Reading
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News
10 Oct 2024
How Recorded Future finds ransomware victims before they get hit
Threat intel specialists at Recorded Future have shared details of newly developed techniques they are using to disrupt Rhysida ransomware attacks before the gang even has a chance to execute them Continue Reading
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News
09 Oct 2024
Five zero-days to be fixed on October Patch Tuesday
Stand-out vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s latest Patch Tuesday drop include problems in Microsoft Management Console and the Windows MSHTML Platform Continue Reading
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News
08 Oct 2024
Secureworks: Ransomware takedowns didn’t put off cyber criminals
The number of active cyber criminal ransomware gangs has surged by almost a third in the space of 12 months, according to the latest intelligence from Secureworks Continue Reading
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News
08 Oct 2024
UK’s cyber incident reporting law to move forward in 2025
The UK government says that enforced cyber incident and ransomware reporting for critical sectors of the economy will help to build a better picture of the threat landscape and enable more proactive and preventative responses Continue Reading
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News
04 Oct 2024
NCSC celebrates eight years as Horne blows in
Outgoing NCSC interim leader Felicity Oswald shares her thoughts on the body’s work over the past eight years as she hands over the reins to incoming CEO Richard Horne Continue Reading
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News
04 Oct 2024
Cups Linux printing bugs open door to DDoS attacks, says Akamai
The Cups Linux printing vulnerabilities disclosed at the end of September would seem to have a nasty sting in their tail, according to researchers at Akamai Continue Reading
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News
03 Oct 2024
SOC teams falling out of love with threat detection tools
Security operations centre practitioners are fed up of being flooded with pointless alerts and many no longer have much confidence in their threat detection tools, according to a report Continue Reading
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Opinion
03 Oct 2024
Rise of the cyber clones: When seeing isn’t believing
It is frighteningly easy to clone someone else's identity using readily-available artificial intelligence tools Continue Reading
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News
01 Oct 2024
Cyber teams say they can’t keep up with attack volumes
Over 60% of European security pros say their teams are understaffed, and over 50% don’t have enough budget, according to data from ISACA Continue Reading
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Opinion
30 Sep 2024
The cyber industry needs to accept it can't eliminate risk
The Computer Weekly Security Think Tank panel considers incident response in the wake of the July CrowdStrike incident, sharing their views on what CrowdStrike got wrong, what it did right, and next steps Continue Reading
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Opinion
27 Sep 2024
Defaulting to open: Decoding the (very public) CrowdStrike event
The Computer Weekly Security Think Tank panel considers incident response in the wake of the July CrowdStrike incident, sharing their views on what CrowdStrike got wrong, what it did right, and next steps Continue Reading
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Opinion
27 Sep 2024
Cyber companies need a best practice approach to major incidents.
The Computer Weekly Security Think Tank panel considers incident response in the wake of the July CrowdStrike incident, sharing their views on what CrowdStrike got wrong, what it did right, and next steps Continue Reading
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News
24 Sep 2024
Unique malware sample volumes seen surging
BlackBerry’s latest ‘Global threat intelligence’ report details a surge in unique malware samples as threat actors ramp up the pace of targeted attacks Continue Reading
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Opinion
24 Sep 2024
How to respond when your cyber company becomes the story
The Computer Weekly Security Think Tank panel considers incident response in the wake of the July CrowdStrike incident, sharing their views on what CrowdStrike got wrong, what it did right, and next steps Continue Reading
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Opinion
23 Sep 2024
Security Think Tank: Win back lost trust by working smarter
The Computer Weekly Security Think Tank panel considers incident response in the wake of the July CrowdStrike incident, sharing their views on what CrowdStrike got wrong, what it did right, and next steps Continue Reading
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Opinion
23 Sep 2024
Gartner: Mitigating security threats in AI agents
Agents represent a step-change in the use of artificial intelligence in the enterprise - as attendees at Salesforce's annual conference saw first hand this month - but do not come without their risks Continue Reading
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Opinion
20 Sep 2024
CrowdStrike incident shows we need to rethink cyber
The Computer Weekly Security Think Tank panel considers incident response in the wake of the July CrowdStrike incident, sharing their views on what CrowdStrike got wrong, what it did right, and next steps Continue Reading
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News
18 Sep 2024
Dreamforce 24: Salesforce taps Nvidia to power Agentforce
At Dreamforce in San Francisco, Salesforce and Nvidia detail some of the tech that will power the software giant's newly launched Agentforce service Continue Reading
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News
18 Sep 2024
Dreamforce 2024: Salesforce calls on customers to flesh out AI vision
A stream of customers helped Salesforce make the case for its Agentforce artificial intelligence offering on the opening day of the annual Dreamforce conference in San Francisco Continue Reading
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News
05 Sep 2024
NCSC and allies call out Russia's Unit 29155 over cyber warfare
The NCSC and counterpart agencies from the US and other countries have exposed a long-running campaign of Russian cyber espionage and warfare conducted by GRU Unit 29155 Continue Reading
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News
02 Sep 2024
UK and Ukraine digital trade deal comes into force
The UK eases access to the deep tech startup community in Ukraine through digital-only agreement Continue Reading
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News
29 Aug 2024
Iranian APT caught acting as access broker for ransomware crews
Members of Iran-backed Pioneer Kitten APT appear to be trying to supplement their pay packets by helping Russian-speaking ransomware gangs to access their victims in exchange for a cut of the profits Continue Reading
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Opinion
29 Aug 2024
Cyber law reform should be top of Labour's policy list
With Labour returning to 10 Downing Street after 14 years, the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank panellists share advice and wish lists for the new government Continue Reading
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Opinion
28 Aug 2024
A coherent Labour cyber strategy depends on consistency
With Labour returning to 10 Downing Street after 14 years, the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank panellists share advice and wish lists for the new government Continue Reading
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News
28 Aug 2024
Global cyber spend to rise 15% in 2025, pushed along by AI
Security spending will increase at pace in 2025, with artificial intelligence, cloud and consultancy services all pushing outlay to new highs, according to Gartner Continue Reading
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Opinion
27 Aug 2024
Extending zero-trust principles to endpoints
By combining zero-trust principles with other security strategies and continuously monitoring and improving their security posture, organisations can effectively mitigate risks and protect their resources, says Gartner's Nikul Patel Continue Reading
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Opinion
27 Aug 2024
The US courts may have thrown a wrench into cyber regulation
A recent decision by the US Supreme Court to overrule the longstanding Chevron Deference has serious implications for global cyber security regulation Continue Reading
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Opinion
27 Aug 2024
Public education on security must be a top priority for Labour
With Labour returning to 10 Downing Street after 14 years, the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank panellists share advice and wish lists for the new government Continue Reading
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Feature
27 Aug 2024
Computer simulations show Swedish fusion initiative could have global impact
The only nuclear fusion initiative in the Nordics, Novatron, believes it has a lot to offer on the global scale Continue Reading
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News
22 Aug 2024
New Qilin tactics a ‘bonus multiplier’ for ransomware chaos
Sophos X-Ops caught the Qilin ransomware gang stealing credentials stored by victims' employees in Google Chrome, heralding further cyber attacks and breaches down the line. Continue Reading
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News
20 Aug 2024
Phishing links becoming bigger threat than email attachments
Phishing techniques are evolving away from malicious email attachments, according to a report Continue Reading
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Opinion
19 Aug 2024
How might the UK's cyber landscape change under Labour?
With Labour returning to 10 Downing Street after 14 years, the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank panellists share advice and wish lists for the new government Continue Reading
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Opinion
15 Aug 2024
Google's cookie conundrum: What comes next?
Google's revised approach to third-party cookies shouldn't come as a surprise, and may also be welcome Continue Reading
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Opinion
15 Aug 2024
With the right tools and strategy, public cloud should be safe to use
Despite the complexity and evolving nature of threats, with the right strategy, tools, and constant vigilance, businesses can safely and securely leverage public cloud services Continue Reading
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News
14 Aug 2024
August Patch Tuesday proves busy with six zero-days to fix
Microsoft patches six actively exploited zero-days among over 100 issues during its regular monthly update Continue Reading
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News
13 Aug 2024
NIST debuts three quantum-safe encryption algorithms
NIST has launched the first three quantum-resistant encryption algorithms, and as the threat of quantum-enabled cyber attacks grows greater, organisations are encouraged to adopt them as soon as they can Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Aug 2024
Deep dive into quantum-resistant cryptography for email security
Quantum computers have the potential to crack many of the encryption methods we currently rely on to keep our digital communications safe. Quantum-resistant cryptography may be the answer Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Aug 2024
How UK firms can get ready for the implementation of NIS2
Many British companies will need to adhere to NIS2’s cyber security risk management and reporting requirements if they want to continue operating in the EU market and avoid huge fines Continue Reading
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News
08 Aug 2024
Royal ransomware crew puts on a BlackSuit in rebrand
The Royal ransomware gang is back, with a new name and refreshed capabilities, including an apparently unique ‘partial encryption’ gambit, according to CISA Continue Reading
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News
08 Aug 2024
US lawmakers seek to brand ransomware gangs as terrorists
Proposals from legislators in Washington DC could shake up the global ransomware ecosystem and give law enforcement sweeping new powers Continue Reading
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News
06 Aug 2024
2024 seeing more CVEs than ever before, but few are weaponised
The number of disclosed CVEs soared by 30% in the first seven-and-a-half months of the year, but a tiny fraction of these have been exploited by threat actors, a reminder of the importance of focused security strategies Continue Reading
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News
05 Aug 2024
Chinese cyber attack sparks alert over six-year-old MS vuln
After a proof-of-concept for a six-year-old Microsoft vulnerability emerged in a Chinese APT attack chain, defenders should be on the look-out for exploitation of CVE-2018-0824 Continue Reading
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News
05 Aug 2024
World’s largest companies at near-universal risk of supply chain breach
Data from SecurityScorecard once again focuses on the interconnected nature of business supply chains and the risk posed to operational resilience by unexpected IT problems and cyber threats Continue Reading
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Opinion
05 Aug 2024
Cyber lessons, and priorities for the UK's new government
With Labour returning to 10 Downing Street after 14 years, the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank panellists share advice and wish lists for the new government Continue Reading
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Opinion
01 Aug 2024
Is it time to refresh the UK's cyber strategy?
With Labour returning to 10 Downing Street after 14 years, the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank panellists share advice and wish lists for the new government Continue Reading
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Opinion
31 Jul 2024
When critical cyber response becomes second nature
When alerts and headlines blare out warnings of critical vulnerabilities in widely-used software, the cyber security community needs to adopt a more decisive and clear-cut approach, says Huntress' Chris Henderson Continue Reading
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Feature
30 Jul 2024
CISO mentoring – who to turn to when the worst happens
Those who get the role of a CISO may have overcome some professional hurdles, but are they ready to face what comes as part of the job? And who do they ask for advice? We look at the mentoring dilemma Continue Reading
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Feature
29 Jul 2024
CrowdStrike update chaos explained: What you need to know
A botched software update at cyber security firm CrowdStrike has caused IT chaos around the world. Learn more about the global CrowdStrike update outage as it develops Continue Reading
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News
29 Jul 2024
Scam CrowdStrike domains growing in volume
Hundreds of malicious domains exploiting CrowdStrike’s branding are appearing all over the web in the wake of the 19 July outage. Experts from Akamai share some noteworthy examples, along with guidance on how to avoid getting caught out Continue Reading
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News
29 Jul 2024
CrowdStrike says most Falcon sensors now up and running
The vast majority of CrowdStrike Falcon sensors affected by a coding error have now been recovered, with a final resolution expected this week Continue Reading
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Opinion
26 Jul 2024
Mastering data privacy in the age of AI
AI continues to revolutionise how organisations operate, using vast amounts of personal data to make smart, informed decisions. However, this incredible potential comes with concerns about data privacy. DQM GRC's Mark James explores the issues. Continue Reading
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Opinion
26 Jul 2024
Cyber crisis? How good PR can save your brand
Cyber attacks and data breaches can happen to anybody and often bring reputational damage and a loss of customer trust. How organisations publicly respond to such incidents can make or break them, and the importance of a good PR strategy cannot be underestimated Continue Reading
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Opinion
26 Jul 2024
Cloud security challenges not just technological
The Computer Weekly Security Think Tank considers how CISOs and security practitioners should ensure that the business can make use of public cloud services safely and securely and avoid accidental or deliberate data leakage. Continue Reading
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News
24 Jul 2024
CrowdStrike blames outage on content configuration update
CrowdStrike publishes the preliminary findings of what will be a lengthy investigation into the root causes of the failed 19 July update that caused Windows computers to crash all over the world Continue Reading
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News
24 Jul 2024
Mimecast to buy insider threat specialist Code42
Mimecast is to buy fellow human-centred risk experts Code42 for an undisclosed sum to take advantage of its insider threat and data loss protection specialisms Continue Reading
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News
22 Jul 2024
NCSC: Beware of criminal CrowdStrike opportunists
Financially motivated cyber criminals are already conducting opportunistic attacks on organisations that leverage the CrowdStrike incident, and more targeted attacks are sure to follow Continue Reading
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News
22 Jul 2024
CrowdStrike chaos shows risks of concentrated ‘big IT’
The concentration of so much mission-critical technology in the hands of a few large suppliers makes incidents like the Microsoft-CrowdStrike outage all the more dangerous Continue Reading
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News
17 Jul 2024
UK Cyber Bill teases mandatory ransomware reporting
In the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill introduced in the King's Speech, the UK's new government pledges to give regulators more teeth to ensure compliance with security best practice and to mandate incident reporting Continue Reading
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News
11 Jul 2024
ITER workshop highlights the role of computing technology in nuclear fusion
One of the themes from the private sector workshop run in France this May is that information technology remains a key enabler for nuclear fusion Continue Reading
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News
11 Jul 2024
Dutch research firm TNO pictures the SOC of the future
In only a few years, security operations centres will have a different design and layout, and far fewer will remain Continue Reading
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News
09 Jul 2024
Hyper-V zero-day stands out on a busy Patch Tuesday
Microsoft has fixed almost 140 vulnerabilities in its latest monthly update, with a Hyper-V zero-day singled out for urgent attention Continue Reading
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News
09 Jul 2024
Chinese spies target vulnerable home office kit to run cyber attacks
China’s APT40 is ramping up targeting of victims using vulnerable small and home office networking kit as command and control infrastructure, according to an international alert Continue Reading
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News
09 Jul 2024
Room to grow in UK for Tata Consultancy Services after half a century
Indian-headquartered IT giant has built a large UK footprint as part of its global network, a commitment which is helping it increase its business in the UK’s public sector Continue Reading
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News
03 Jul 2024
NCA’s Operation Morpheus targets illicit Cobalt Strike use
International law enforcement operation targets cyber criminals using the Cobalt Strike penetration testing framework for dodgy purposes Continue Reading
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Opinion
02 Jul 2024
Security Think Tank: Securing today's ubiquitous cloud environment
The Computer Weekly Security Think Tank considers how CISOs and security practitioners should ensure that the business can make use of public cloud services safely and securely and avoid accidental or deliberate data leakage Continue Reading
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News
27 Jun 2024
UKtech50 2024: The most influential people in UK technology
Computer Weekly has announced the 14th annual UKtech50 – our definitive list of the movers and shakers in the UK tech sector Continue Reading
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News
24 Jun 2024
Sellafield pleads guilty to criminal charges over cyber security
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority-backed organisation Sellafield Ltd pleads guilty to criminal charges brought over significant cyber security failings that could have compromised sensitive nuclear information Continue Reading
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Opinion
24 Jun 2024
AI and outsourcing: What’s the future for relationships and contracts? (Part two)
In the second part of this two-part series, two technology lawyers offer guidance on what the integration of artificial intelligence in IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing will mean for customers and providers in outsourcing relationships and contracts Continue Reading
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News
21 Jun 2024
Sellafield whistleblower ordered to pay costs after email tampering claims
A former consultant at Sellafield has been ordered to pay costs for having ‘acted unreasonably’ in claiming the nuclear facility tampered with metadata in letters used against her in court Continue Reading
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Opinion
17 Jun 2024
Cloud security: Finding the right provider to protect your data
This month, the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank considers how CISOs and security practitioners should ensure that the business can make use of public cloud services safely and securely and avoid accidental or deliberate data leakage. Continue Reading
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News
13 Jun 2024
Black Basta ransomware crew may be exploiting Microsoft zero-day
A Microsoft vulnerability that was addressed without fanfare in March may in fact have been exploited as a zero-day by the notorious Black Basta ransomware gang, threat hunters warn Continue Reading
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Opinion
13 Jun 2024
Data leakage in the cloud – can data truly be safe in the cloud?
This month, the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank considers how CISOs and security practitioners should ensure that the business can make use of public cloud services safely and securely and avoid accidental or deliberate data leakage. Continue Reading
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News
13 Jun 2024
Q&A: Adalbjorn Thorolfsson on IT project management in Iceland
With a small, but very sophisticated population, Iceland has unique ways of keeping up with the rest of the world in the IT sector. Adalbjorn Thorolfsson, president of the Icelandic Project Management Association, describes some lessons for the rest of the world Continue Reading
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Opinion
12 Jun 2024
How to ensure public cloud services are used safely and securely
This month, the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank considers how CISOs and security practitioners should ensure that the business can make use of public cloud services safely and securely and avoid accidental or deliberate data leakage. Continue Reading
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Opinion
11 Jun 2024
True cloud security requires in-depth understanding
This month, the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank considers how CISOs and security practitioners should ensure that the business can make use of public cloud services safely and securely and avoid accidental or deliberate data leakage. Continue Reading
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News
11 Jun 2024
Pure Storage hit by Snowflake credential hackers
Pure Storage emerges as the latest victim of a fast-spreading breach of Snowflake customers targeting users with lax credential security measures in place Continue Reading